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Straightening a bent cantilever

Z

zacster

Member
I have a Grace F9E cartridge where the cantilever is bent down. What would be the harm in attempting to bend it back? Is this something I could do? Would I be risking just breaking it? The cartridge was sitting in a box for 28 years, untouched by human hands. I don't remember how it got bent, but an ex-girlfriend was probably involved. (Why can't women figure out how to lift a tonearm? I don't let my wife near my TT now!:nono:)

I've used it briefly in my Rega TT w/ Grace tonearm and it still sounded light years better than the Sumiko it replaced even with the bent canti, but I didn't want it to wear my records. I've since put in an Ortofon Quintet Blue, a very nice cartridge in itself.

As an alternative to doing it myself, would Soundsmith do this and more likely get it right, or would he just want to replace it?

What do I really have to lose by trying?
 
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Yes, and get thee some swiss army knife tweezers. 1 cantilever broken, 3 repaired with this method. Also, is the cantilever bent, or is the suspension just sagging?
If so, I think we've got a way to fix that, lol.
 
SoundSmith has new Grace F9 replacement stylus starting at about $150 which about equals the cost of a basic retip. The SS new Grace stylus may not be around forever so I'd give serious consideration to purchasing one now. Also don't toss the old stylus if your unsuccessful in straightening it, it's still a good candidate for a retip at some point in time for you or someone else.
 
onwardjames said:
Yes, and get thee some swiss army knife tweezers. 1 cantilever broken, 3 repaired with this method. Also, is the cantilever bent, or is the suspension just sagging?
If so, I think we've got a way to fix that, lol.
Click to expand...

It is definitely bent.

I would have bought the SS stylus at $150, but it is $200, and it just reached the threshold. On top of that I live in New York so I'd have to pay the sales tax. When all is said and done it was a lot for something I may not use since I have the Ortofon, and I'm very happy with it.
 
Depending how much it is bent, it might be a better option to leave it alone and just account for it in the setup, just adjust VTA accordingly (if that's an option on your TT). If the bent is downwards, look up "stylus rake angle" using Google image search or something and try to figure out how your diamond tip is riding the grooves and what to do to make it about right.
 
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